The Seattle Times has an an article about the Booming growth raises idea of Dams. The focus on this article are the water issues, but cheap hydroelectric power is there as well.

SPOKANE — The era of massive dam construction in the West — which tamed rivers, swallowed towns and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and persistent environmental problems — effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.

But a booming population and growing fears about climate change have governments once again studying dams, this time to create huge reservoirs to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months.

New dams are being studied in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and other states, even as dams are being torn down across the country over environmental concerns — worries that will likely pose big obstacles to new dams.

"The West and the Northwest are increasing in population growth like never before," said John Redding, regional spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boise. "How do you quench the thirst of the hungry masses?"

The state gov'ts know that water shortages are coming unless they come up ways to store more water as snowpacks are in jeopardy.

Washington's water crisis is centered on the Columbia River basin and the adjacent Yakima River Basin — which produce a bounty of crops, including apples, cherries, hops for beer and wine grapes.

Groundwater wells in the region are being emptied to sustain millions of acres of irrigated agriculture, prompting ongoing studies of new dams.

The WSJ has an article about the reality of costs for going green in the home.

In fact, earning back the green premium can take years, not counting rebates and incentives that may be available from government agencies. Enermodal calculates a payback period of more than 10 years for the most extreme green measures, including super-efficient furnaces and water-thrifty faucets. Systems integrator Solar Depot estimates a solar hot-water system will pay for itself in eight to 10 years, depending on the climate, site and home size; a solar radiant floor-heating system will take five to six years. But considering the average U.S. homeowner lives in a house only seven years before moving, many will need more than the hope of lower utility bills to inspire a green remodeling. (And some green products, such as bamboo floors, don't save any money.)

Data centers going green shouldn't run into the same problem, as a 10 mW data center is the equivalent of 10,000 homes, so energy ROIs are much quicker.

DataCenterKnowledge writes a post on ask.com's public statement on Quincy's Power Advantage.

Greg Fennewald, senior director of data center strategy for Ask.com, discussed the economics of power at last week's meeting of the Grant County Economic Development Council. Fennewald spoke about why his company decided to locate in Moses Lake, Washington, where it opened a new data center in December. The savings on electricity, he said, are "quite significant."

"When our place is full, it's going to need about 4,000 kilowatts pretty much flat 24-7," said Fennewald. "That's going to cost about $70,000 a month. To have the same amount of demand in a higher energy cost place like Manhattan or San Francisco, over $300,000. That's a lot of money, and that's per month, so take that times 12, big bucks. There's some good reasons why you see folks going to Quincy, Wenatchee and other places within a 150-mile radius of here. There's a lot of things this area has to offer."

Which reminded me of a dinner conversation I had months ago with the Peter Horan, the CEO of Interactive Active's Media and Advertising division which includes ask.com. We spent a good 10 minutes talking about power and how it was critical factor in data centers. Peter has always been a technical executive and it was refreshing to hear he gets the issues of building a Green Data Center.